Thursday, 7 March 2013

The
AvonRider, about which I wrote last September, has just been joined by theBristolRider,
a multi-operator ticket that covers the built-up area of Bristol
plus Long Ashton and Keynsham.

It costs
£4.50, only 50p more than the equivalent First Day ticket
(though ominously that's described as an introductory price). Better
still, both AvonRider and Bristol Rider now include Bristol City
Council's fully contracted services, 501 to 515, and the Park &
Rides. At last the city and the operators have agreed on something!

It means, say, that a 515 journey from here in Stockwood to the new
Hengrove Hospital can continue in to town on one of the First routes
– and return on Abus's 57, all on the one ticket.

The Hengrove Bus Stop Gamble

Losers

If you're
lucky enough to live round Fortfield Road, and fancy a bus trip into
town, there's a choice of two buses, the 51 or the 20. Their routes
share the stretch between Oatlands Avenue and Wharnecliffe Gardens, so
that's the place to be sure of getting whichever one comes along
first. Except for one thing – there's no bus stop. Go south,
beyond the 51 route, and you can get the 20. Go north, off the 20
route, and you'll get the next 51. Only the fleetest of foot stand
an above average chance of getting whichever comes first - by
scanning for approaching buses from the Fortfield/Wharncliffe
junction and racing for the relevant stop.

My comprehensive user survey found 100% of the sample (that's me, once,
and a student, daily) to be seriously inconvenienced by this layout.

Luckily, someone's alerted the Neighbourhood Partnership to it. Now it seems
that common sense might provide a shared bus stop along the shared
Wharnecliffe Gardens – Oatlands Avenue stretch, thanks to a windfall
of cash from development around Loxton Square. Watch that space.

How Long
Blues

For passengers heading
back from Temple Meads to Knowle, Filwood, Hengrove, Whitchurch, or
Stockwood, or further down the A37 into Somerset, the starting point
is the bus stop on Temple Gate beside the Old Station.

This,
according to the transport authorities, is the beginning of Showcase
Route 6; part of the Greater Bristol Bus Network that will transform
the quality of public transport in this city.

Passengers
in Belluton or Temple Cloud will know of the benefits this brings –
proper bus stops with real time information displays that tell you if
you've got time for a smoke, or to nip behind a hedge for a call of
nature, before the bus comes.

No such
luxury here at Temple Meads, which must host more waiting passengers than
any other stop on this 'showcase' corridor. For some reason, the
upgrade promised by the Cabinet's decision in December 2009, was
never implemented here.

Is it too
late to spend a couple of £K to give hundreds of passengers a day
the convenience of knowing when the bus is really coming?

Clevedon
Express?

OK, I
know nothing about this... just came across it
here
. A firm called BristolGreyhound
preparing to run an X7 express service to Clevedon from Temple Meads?
From 25th
March, according to the robot-builders.

About this Blog

This one's from the little known Bristolian outpost of Stockwood, first settled by city expats back in the fifties. Leafy, open, and close to the countryside.... until they grub up the Green Belt and open spaces to build an 'urban extension'.

Written by an adoptive Stockwoodsman, arrived from the wild north-east back in 2004, this blog sets out to look at Stockwood and Bristol issues, mostly from a green perspective